Terrorist Trouble and Relations with Pakistan

In December 1999, an Indian Airlines flight (IC 814 from Nepal) was hijacked by Pakistani terrorists and flown to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The government ultimately met the demands of the terrorists and released certain terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar from prison. There was no explanation forthcoming from the Indian government as to why the external affairs minister personally escorted the terrorists to Afghanistan to exchange them for the passengers. Relations with Pakistan dipped.

But again in July 2001, Vajpayee made an effort to improve relations with Pakistan by inviting Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf to Delhi and Agra for a summit and peace talks. No breakthrough was possible as Musharraf did not agree to leave aside the Kashmir issue.

Then in December 2001, came the attack on the Parliament House in Delhi, which was carried out by Lashkar- e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. Once again Indo- Pakistani relations dipped. Following this attack and other terrorist attacks, the government got the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) passed.